


Loopholes

by QuixoticRobotics



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Autistic Orpheus, F/M, Happy Ending AU, MUCH DESERVED HAPPY ENDINGS BEING EARNED, can you tell i love snarky ghosts? bc i love snarky ghosts, eurydice is not doing this today, idk if its evident but it was written w that as the intent, orpheus is very. very tired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 06:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20205460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuixoticRobotics/pseuds/QuixoticRobotics
Summary: Sometimes you just have to decide enough is enough and hope for the best





	Loopholes

Things never came easy. That was an absolute Eurydice knew with full certainty. It didn’t matter if this was a trick or a test, it was a chance. That was all they needed. If they couldn’t walk hand in hand now, they’d make up for it later.    
  
However, when she’d gone to tell him that she couldn’t wait to hold his hand again, he hadn’t responded. Maybe he was just focused, she figured. But the slow, uneven gait he lurched forward with didn’t reflect a poet lost in the vastness of his thoughts. Each step was painful and deliberate, like it was taking all his energy to keep going. She wondered if he’d stop to rest at all on his march into Hadestown. She realized he probably hadn’t.    
  
“Orpheus, are you ok? Do you want to slow down?” She asked. She got no response.   
  
“Orpheus!” she cried out, now just searching for some sign of acknowledgment that he could hear her. She got none. She noticed he was shivering. She realized how devoid of warmth it must be in the darkness. It was no wonder he was cold.    
  
And then she realized she didn’t feel cold at all. 

She didn’t feel anything at all, actually. She wasn’t tired, she wasn’t hungry. She felt nothing.   
  
She figured it out then. She was literally in between being dead and the world of the living. She was a ghost. That's why Orpheus couldn’t hear her.    
  


Speaking of Orpheus, she noticed he was whispering. “N-no” “I don’t think- I don’t know” he sputtered out, then, frustration much more audible in his voice, “I don’t know!”    
  
Who was he talking to?   
  
Sounding like he was on the verge of tears, he whispered, “Please, I can't...please go away!” while covering his ears.   
  
Eurydice realized what was going on instantly. It was The Fates. The Fates were here. Of course they were here, and they were swarming poor Orpheus.   
  
“What, did you get bored of bothering me?” Eurydice thought angrily. She was used to The constant nagging voices in the back of her mind, that was fine. But Orpheus couldn’t answer whatever cryptic, haunting bullshit they were using to mess with his mind. His mind was tired. He needed to be able to focus on the task at hand, this was as unfair as making someone with a broken leg keep running a race.    
  
In her frustration, Eurydice kicked a small rock, and was somewhat surprised when it moved from where it was. Orpheus jumped at the sudden break in the silence and stillness.   
  
Knowing she could still impact the physical world made her want to lay a comforting hand on Orpheus’s shoulder, but she couldn’t risk causing him to turn around. So she offered encouragement she knew he couldn’t hear. Maybe it was more for herself than anything. But after what felt like endless darkness, the reached the light at the end of the tunnel.    
  
Orpheus scampered forward towards light streaming in. From her point of view he was a silhouette against the all encompassing brightness.    
  
But this was not the silhouette of a triumphant hero. It was a broken man, bent over, gasping for breath. But there were only a few steps ahead. Then this would be over, they’d go home together. They’d live out the rest of their days by each other's sides. He only had to take one more step.   
  
One more step.

  
  
One more step.

  
  
There was just one last step. But Orpheus wasn’t moving.

  
  
Why wasn’t he moving?   
  
He was whispering again, and she couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it had a somber, heavy tone. Eurydice didn’t like that. He stood up straighter. Eurydice didn’t like that. He inhaled deeply and with purpose and stood there with his fists clenched tightly, bracing himself, not moving forward at all. Eurydice did not like that.   
  
And in one second this stopped being test. In one second this wasn’t about trust, or faith, or leadership or anything. It took less than an instant for all morals to vanish, all symbology to disappear, there was nothing narrative about the matter. It was just a chance. And grabbing that chance by the horns, Eurydice ran up and shoved Orpheus as hard as she could.    
  
  
The first thing Orpheus knew was that he’d slammed into something. The second thing he knew was that everything hurt so much. In that moment after hitting the ground he had time to fully process every scrape and bruise he’d acquired in hadestown. He honestly just wanted to lie there, it felt so good to finally be off his feet.    
  
But then he felt sunlight. And after painfully turning himself over he saw what sunlight feels like. Out of the darkness stepped Eurydice, all of her illuminated bit by bit as the warm sun shone down, as though the sky itself was beholding her.   
  
She looked down at him and smiled. The next thing he knew he was crying. Tears poured from his eyes as he gazed up. This couldn’t be happening. Why was this happening? He didn’t deserve this. He couldn’t handle her smiling face, alive and safe and smiling. He only managed to choke out a hoarse, awestruck “It’s you.”   
  


Eurydice smiled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “It’s me.” she said, holding her arms out a bit to showcase it was, in fact, her.   
  
She extended a hand downward to help him up. Once he was on his feet he stumbled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, leaning against her for support. “Sorry I pushed you.” she said bashfully.   
  
“No, dont, you. what’s? What?” trickled out of his mouth in response. “I’ll explain, don’t worry. Lets just find a place to rest, we’ve got a long walk home.”   
  
Orpheus was still somewhat dazed, but rest sounded nice, anything with Eurydice sounded nice. Home. he liked the sound of that. “Home.” he repeated the word multiple times, it felt as soft and fresh as clean laundry.    
  
Eurydice smiled at him. She never had valued being alive as much as she did right now. For what might very well have been the first time in her life, she felt like everything was going to be ok. Things wouldn’t come easily, they never did. But things would be ok. Everything felt like it was going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey i proofread this one a lot less than Not Alone so it might suck but I was. so exited about this fic i hope its ok at least i really do like sharing all daydream stories with y'all. also you can smell the Princess Tutu influence coming off of this au goddamn


End file.
